Ode 1. Tone 1. Irmos.

‘Let us all sing a hymn of victory to the God who worked wondrous marvels with his upraised arm, and saved Israel; for he has been glorified‘.

Let us begin to-day to celebrate the forefeast of Christ’s Nativity, who was born in the body from the Virgin Mother in the Cave of Bethlehem through his great compassion.

Releasing me from the bonds of sin, the pre-eternal God, seen as a babe, is wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. Glory to his might!

Eden is opened, Master, as you are brought to birth in the flesh from a Maiden, Child of God, in the city of Bethlehem. We hymn your dread dispensation.

See, now the saying of Isaias has been fulfilled, O All-pure; for you have come to give birth to a Son beyond time in a cave; and so all the earth is glad.